This page will present a new idea a fortnight for you to try. We will try to provide ideas that will cover the range from New Entrants to Year 8.
Although some ideas may be directed at a particular level we will leave it to you to modify and adapt for the age level you teach.
If you have a good idea, please share it here.
This is a quick cool easy to use tool that could be used in different ways with photographs. It allows you to upload an image from the web or your own computer and presents it into a poster format with a striking title and additional phrase.
It could be used at the beginning of the year with students inserting a photo of themselves and recording their goals. Use it as an opportunity for students to get working well with the camera. If it is goal setting, encourage them to take photos collaboratively in the right setting. A class I worked with largely focussed on their sporting goals and took appropriate photos. The phrase or sentence underneath needs to be carefully thought through to give more information to the viewer. In another class children used it to focus on the habits of mind.
Once you have the photo looking how you want it, you save it to your computer. It is a jpeg so can be used in many different ways. It could be the first page of an e-portfolio.
Use Bubbl.us to make a mindmap. You can go straight into making a mindmap and save it as a JPEG or you can have an account. This will allow you to do the following. It's easy to use. Have a go!
Create colorful mind maps online
Share and work with friends
Embed your mind map in your blog or websit
Email and print your mind map
Save your mind map as an image
Week 9 :Word Clouds
http://www.abcya.com/word_clouds.htm
Because this has been a short term and we have a long way to go in our journey I have added this little idea which you may have time to investigate over the holidays. A lot of us are excited about Wordle and it has been used successfully with teachers and students of all ages. However in the March issue of I**CT PD OnlineNewsletters** Tessa Gray shows some other cloud tools which are worth looking at. Although it dosesn't have all the features that Wordle has this ABC ya allows you to save your wordle to your computer in the normal way and therefore is very user friendly especially for younger children.
There is also another Word Cloud tool called WordItOut http://worditout.com/
This is also worth looking at. You are required to save it online but you can keep it private.An email address is required. Once you have saved it you are able to download your word cloud onto your own computer. There are lots of options in WordITOut which could be more interesting for older students to use.
Term 2
Week 1:Survey Monkey
This is a great tool for carrying out a survey and is easy to make and use. It can be used with any age group.
The Slide Share is a presentation kindly shared by Suzie Vesper. It is a great help to show the steps to go through to get started.
The link below is to a survey example provided as an introduction by Survey Monkey to show the different ways questions can be asked. It helps you to think about how to frame questions and could be useful as an example to show students if they were creating a survey. Example of Questions: Peanut Butter
The last link is to provide some help in getting you started. Survey Monkey Tutorials
Week 3 : ArtRage
If you haven't used it yet, this is a great painting programme suitable for all ages. The free programme has sufficient applications to challenge any age group and enable them to achieve. The tools work just like the real media. You can download this programme at http://www.artrage.com/artragedemo.html .Be sure to choose the Starter Edition
ArtRage
which is the free version.
I have attached some notes to help you get started.
The Slide Show that you can see below is a selection of work from the Junior children of Reignier school. They used ArtRage to make these lovely spring pictures.
Week 5 : Google Search
Google has provided some useful posters to support you and your children in their searching. You can print and laminate the ones you feel are useful and hang them in strategic places.
The "Search Tips for Kids" and the "Google Search Tips" are very useful. You can see them here and click on the link below if you want to download them. http://www.google.com/educators/posters.html
Week 7:Auto Collage
Microsoft Auto Collage
This is a fantastic little programme for making a collage. Students could use this to make a compilation of their own photos as a front page for their e-portfolio page. Please add your ideas as to how it could be used to the wiki. The programme is very simple to use. It is a good idea to have the photos you want in a folder as it will grab all the photos from the folder you choose. The collage is saved as a jpeg so can be used in many different ways.
Collage using Autocollage
Week 9: Photo Effects in MS Office 2007
Following on the theme of photographs look at the way photos can be manipulated in Microsoft Word and Power Point 2007. By hovering over the different options in recolour, borders, effects, picture shapes etc you can see how your photo looks before you make a decision. This is one of the many advantages of MS Office 2007. As an activity with students to get them investigating these options get them to insert, resize and copy Ctrl Drag the same photo several times and then change the photo to see some of the various effects.
Below is an example. The photo has been inserted on a Power Point slide and then saved as a jpeg to be inserted into the wiki. It is handy to know that slides can be saved as jpegs as they can then be used as an image. Go Save as and choose JPEG File Interchange Format from the many options.
Table of Contents
One Idea a Fortnight
This page will present a new idea a fortnight for you to try. We will try to provide ideas that will cover the range from New Entrants to Year 8.Although some ideas may be directed at a particular level we will leave it to you to modify and adapt for the age level you teach.
If you have a good idea, please share it here.
Term 1
Week 6 : Automotivator:
http://wigflip.com/automotivator/This is a quick cool easy to use tool that could be used in different ways with photographs. It allows you to upload an image from the web or your own computer and presents it into a poster format with a striking title and additional phrase.
It could be used at the beginning of the year with students inserting a photo of themselves and recording their goals. Use it as an opportunity for students to get working well with the camera. If it is goal setting, encourage them to take photos collaboratively in the right setting. A class I worked with largely focussed on their sporting goals and took appropriate photos. The phrase or sentence underneath needs to be carefully thought through to give more information to the viewer. In another class children used it to focus on the habits of mind.
Once you have the photo looking how you want it, you save it to your computer. It is a jpeg so can be used in many different ways. It could be the first page of an e-portfolio.
Week 8 :Bubbl.us
Easy to use Mindmapping toolhttp://bubbl.us/m
Week 9 :Word Clouds
http://www.abcya.com/word_clouds.htm
Because this has been a short term and we have a long way to go in our journey I have added this little idea which you may have time to investigate over the holidays. A lot of us are excited about Wordle and it has been used successfully with teachers and students of all ages. However in the March issue of I**CT PD OnlineNewsletters** Tessa Gray shows some other cloud tools which are worth looking at. Although it dosesn't have all the features that Wordle has this ABC ya allows you to save your wordle to your computer in the normal way and therefore is very user friendly especially for younger children.
There is also another Word Cloud tool called WordItOut http://worditout.com/
This is also worth looking at. You are required to save it online but you can keep it private.An email address is required. Once you have saved it you are able to download your word cloud onto your own computer. There are lots of options in WordITOut which could be more interesting for older students to use.
Term 2
Week 1:Survey Monkey
This is a great tool for carrying out a survey and is easy to make and use. It can be used with any age group.The Slide Share is a presentation kindly shared by Suzie Vesper. It is a great help to show the steps to go through to get started.
The link below is to a survey example provided as an introduction by Survey Monkey to show the different ways questions can be asked. It helps you to think about how to frame questions and could be useful as an example to show students if they were creating a survey.
Example of Questions: Peanut Butter
The last link is to provide some help in getting you started.
Survey Monkey Tutorials
Week 3 : ArtRage
If you haven't used it yet, this is a great painting programme suitable for all ages. The free programme has sufficient applications to challenge any age group and enable them to achieve. The tools work just like the real media. You can download this programme at http://www.artrage.com/artragedemo.html .Be sure to choose the Starter EditionI have attached some notes to help you get started.
The Slide Show that you can see below is a selection of work from the Junior children of Reignier school. They used ArtRage to make these lovely spring pictures.
Week 5 : Google Search
Google has provided some useful posters to support you and your children in their searching. You can print and laminate the ones you feel are useful and hang them in strategic places.The "Search Tips for Kids" and the "Google Search Tips" are very useful. You can see them here and click on the link below if you want to download them.
http://www.google.com/educators/posters.html
Week 7:Auto Collage
Microsoft Auto CollageThis is a fantastic little programme for making a collage. Students could use this to make a compilation of their own photos as a front page for their e-portfolio page. Please add your ideas as to how it could be used to the wiki. The programme is very simple to use. It is a good idea to have the photos you want in a folder as it will grab all the photos from the folder you choose. The collage is saved as a jpeg so can be used in many different ways.
Week 9: Photo Effects in MS Office 2007
Following on the theme of photographs look at the way photos can be manipulated in Microsoft Word and Power Point 2007. By hovering over the different options in recolour, borders, effects, picture shapes etc you can see how your photo looks before you make a decision. This is one of the many advantages of MS Office 2007. As an activity with students to get them investigating these options get them to insert, resize and copy Ctrl Drag the same photo several times and then change the photo to see some of the various effects.Below is an example. The photo has been inserted on a Power Point slide and then saved as a jpeg to be inserted into the wiki. It is handy to know that slides can be saved as jpegs as they can then be used as an image. Go Save as and choose JPEG File Interchange Format from the many options.